Press Advice

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ThumperX

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I am new to reloading. This will be my first press. I will be reloading pistol mainly right now. 9mm, .45acp and .357. Watched tonnes of vids and read a few books (ie ABC's of Reloading). I have started accumulating equipment i will always use for any caliber,ie calipers, tumbler (tonnes of cleaned brass ready to go), scales, trimmer, funnel, storage containers.. etc..

so here is where i am undecided, progressive (i like the Honady lnp) or turret, and if turret do i go with the Lee or somthing like RCBS or Lyman...etc.

what are your opinions and reasons? what route would you reccomend progressive or turret? Should i start with turret then go to progressive or just straight to progressive?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.
 
I do most rifle on a single stage. I prefer it that way. For more mass produced pistol stuff i have a dillon 650xl....the dillon costs ya a bit more but well worth it in my opinion. Top of the line. And no questions asked lifetime warranty and it is transferable. The 550 ive heard good things about too as well as the 1150. The 1150 is huge and much more expensive tho. I dont have any experience with others tho.
 
Most are good.

Most of the current progressive presses for sale today are good. All are way better than loading single stage. All have good warranties and most have resources you can contact if you have problems.
With that in mind, the BEST press on the market today are those made by Dillon Precision. Best setup, NO BS 100% warranty, best service.
Skip the entry level presses and buy the RL550. You won't be sorry...
 
start with used lee [ classic cast ] or whatever , you'll allways need a single stage down the road, take a good look @ dillon & hornady for progessive. i've got a rcbs rc , lee classic cast & 2 dillon 550's . all worth every penny & good for a life time +
 
save yourself the headache and only buy lee if you need a new boat anchor!!! as far as progressives which is what id recommend for pistol. the 2 i would look at is the hornady LNL AP (i own a hornady) and the Dillon 650. personally after owning the hornady and using both i would buy the Dillon if i did it again. reasons for that is Dillon caliber changes are much faster even with hornady having lnl. the Dillon case feeder is way way way better then hornady's. the one thing i will give hornady over Dillon is i have found there powder measure to be more consistent.
 
Which ever way you go do not buy a cheap setup as you will regret is very quickly. In most cases the more you spend the better they work and the more you will enjoy them.

Graydog
 
I would never recommend a progressive press as a first press. IMO the beginning reloader needs to understand what happens at each step in the loading process. The way to do that is use a single-stage press OR a turret press with an auto-index that you can disable (the Lee Turret press is good for this, and so is the Dillon 550B with manual indexing).

If something goes wrong on a progressive, is the beginner going to know what went wrong and how to fix it? IMO (only) not likely.

Once the beginner has reloaded a couple thousand rounds, he or she should have a very clear idea of exactly what happens at each stage of reloading. When the reloader understands what happens, THEN it's time to go to a progressive press and crank out the ammo.

Remember, the reloader is fooling with components (powder and primers) that can be dangerous if used improperly.

To the OP:

Depending on your budget, I'd recommend the Lee Turret Press kit or a Dillon 550B press. The Dillon is much more expensive that the Lee kit. Don't be intimidated by the Lee haters on the forum, Lee makes some good equipment at a lower cost than everybody else (they also make some gear that ISN'T as good as the other makers).
 
I got a dillon 550 and didn't look back. It was my first press and was easy enough to learn on. I just took my time. Now that I am comfortable with it, I can produce 3-400 pistol rounds an hour without sweating. If I went with some of the turret and single stage options, I would not be able to product that volume. Works for me because I mostly shoot pistol. YMMV.
 
i just got a dillon 550b and i don't regret it for on second.
quite semple to set up. just pay attention when loading to
make sure theres powder.
 
thanks for the info guys, i am leaning more towards a progressive now. Just as a new reloader, taking it easy with the progresssive, loading one at a time until i have a comprehensive undersatnding of each stage. After that then i can crank them out

Like others have said you get what you pay for. so i am always one who is looking for quality. Also i dont like having to start one something small and upgrading in a couple of months time. I consider myslf a very quick learner.

Who are our site sponsers who sell Dhillon? i live in the outskirts of the GTA, i normally would like to see, touch feel before i buy. where?
 
Remember when you are shopping for a Dillon -

Square deal and all other Dillon presses except for the 550 have an auto indexing shell plate.

The 550 does not have an auto indexing shell plate, so you have to move it manually.

I have the square deal and it's great for the price, but you can't add on a bullet or case feeder in the future and you can use only square deal dies. There is another thread on here where a guy was asking about the value of his square deal and I think he has all 3 calibre conversions that you are looking for too. You aren't married to the thing and you can always sell it later if you want to upgrade.

You need to determine how many rounds for hour you would like to produce to select the progressive that is best for you.

Check out the many videos on youtube of the different presses. That will give you an idea of what they are like.
 
ThumperX said:
thanks for the info guys, i am leaning more towards a progressive now. Just as a new reloader, taking it easy with the progresssive, loading one at a time until i have a comprehensive undersatnding of each stage. After that then i can crank them out

Like others have said you get what you pay for. so i am always one who is looking for quality. Also i dont like having to start one something small and upgrading in a couple of months time. I consider myslf a very quick learner.

Who are our site sponsers who sell Dhillon? i live in the outskirts of the GTA, i normally would like to see, touch feel before i buy. where?
Click to expand...

I started reloading recently on a Dillon 650 with a case feeder. I just took it very slowly at the beginning to make sure I fully understood what and how each station worked. If you are mechanically inclined you should be able to pick it up very quickly.

Depending on how much you shoot and how many calibers you load for I would highly recommend either the Dillon 550 or 650 product lines. I load both 9mm and .45 ACP and even changing over from small to large primers is no big deal, it only takes a few minutes. I purchased an addition primer system for my large primers which speeds up caliber conversions even further.

If your budget allows for it you may also want to consider getting an single stage press for de-priming your brass. It can also be used for reloading precision rifle ammo if you are into that. You will find all sorts of uses for a single stage press, even if you load progressively.

I was up at Epps last week and they have both the 550 and 650 in stock and ready to go.

Good luck and happy and safe reloading - it is addictive!
 
2Bad4u said:
If your budget allows for it you may also want to consider getting an single stage press for de-priming your brass. It can also be used for reloading precision rifle ammo if you are into that. You will find all sorts of uses for a single stage press, even if you load progressively.

I was up at Epps last week and they have both the 550 and 650 in stock and ready to go.

Good luck and happy and safe reloading - it is addictive!
Click to expand...

may i ask why you would deprime on a single stage progressive is much faster with universal decapping die?
 
Me too!! Dillon 550B from the get go and never looked back. Single stage.. meh. If I was loading afew rounds here and there for hunting maybe but any kind of volume at all and you only buy a progressive anyway.

Knowledge is key so if you have a good understanding of the process from the get go (you MUST do some reading beforehand; ABC's of Reloading is a great book with lots of pics and easy to understand) there is nothing wrong with starting on a progressive press.

YMMV
 
ripitup911 said:
may i ask why you would deprime on a single stage progressive is much faster with universal decapping die?
Click to expand...

Actually decapping your brass on a single stage press is slower than decapping on a progressive press. I decap all of my brass prior to cleaning them in stainless steal media. Decapping first allows the pins to clean the entire brass case, including the primer holes. The cases look like new when I'm done. They do not fire any better, but they sure look pretty. :D

Once the cases are cleaned, nothing ever gets dirty and it's easy to throughly inspect each one of them for any damage. Once you've tried cleaning with stainless steal media you will never go back to using dry media. But that's another thread.

Also, I would NEVER put dirty brass in the Dillon case feeder, and decap on the 650. All that crap that is on the brass would end up contaminating the entire case feeder and press. IMHO it's best to clean your brass prior to reloading on a progressive press. YMMV.
 
PeterPan said:
Check Redding turret press. It is worth every penny and is cheaper then Dillon
Click to expand...

I agree that it's an EXCELLENT press - I almost bought one. I ended up purchasing a Redding Big Boss II single stage press after I got my 650 for decapping and miscellaneous other tasks.
 
thanks for the info and support. After reading more and watching more videos. I am decided with Dillon.

Now its just between the 550 and 650. is it worth the extra $200? I like the idea the 650 has more attachments/upgrades to speed things up. And that i can add their electronic case powder check.
 
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